Patagonian Conure - anybody live with one?

[galeriagila]

OOOOOOH, more mind-candy from Pajarita!!!!!

That info about not climbing, preferring to walk... so very true. RB has skinny, pink little cockatiel-feet! He doesn't enjoy climbing as much as most parrots. His feet are not anything like the strong feet and toes of, say, Amazons. I use various nail-trimming perches to keep his nails in good shape, but they are a bit long by usual standards. I feel like he needs them that way to perch and climb better, especially to the smooth perch in his travel case. Now as for walking... YES! He is fast! And hard to catch, when he wants to be... darts back and forth, turns on a dime! Just lowers his head and whoosh, he's off running. Reminds me of the roadrunners that are so beloved out West.

I made a list of those plants, and I'm going to see if I might be able to grow some! Maybe even indoors... Cleveland has a short growing season. Milk thistle was a surprise! Some of those plants are so strange-looking - like that balsam-thing and the lyceum... pretty, though! That schinus pepper-tree is actually a pest plant out west!!!!

RB peels grapes with his beak and tongue, actually seems more interested in the peels... man, does that make a mess. He only gets grapes on the cabinet, preferably before a bath, or at least a foot-bath. And yessssssssss, figzszszszszzs!!! But goat-poop???? I love my bird but we're drawing the line there!

So........ I could just go find some milk-thistle seeds later this summer and feed them to him?? Would have to know they weren't treated with anything...

That was so fun to learn. Another little tidbit... MAYBE relating to his arid heritage. He HATES showers or sprayed water. He prefers to bathe in standing water only. Even a trickle from the faucet discourages him. The best bath situation is the tub, with about 3 inches of lukewarm water. He splashes and drinks and dunks his head until he is soaked and then tells me when he's ready to come out. He loves the blow dryer, set on low and warm, which I use mostly in he winter. I hold it out at arm's length and he moves from my shoulder to however close feels good... usually about a foot away. It must feel wonderful... his eyes practically roll back in his head. Hmmm... all that nice, warm dry air must suit his arid heritage, too!

Thanks again!!!!!!!!!

[liz]

From day one I have been working on getting Myrtle and Rambo to say "hey baby what's up". They use the words but never the way I want them to.

They will say "hey baby" and "what's up" seperatly.

[Pajarita]

I'll give you more 'mind-candy' tomorrow, Gail. I had to put down another dog yesterday and I am still having a hard time with it...

[galeriagila]

Oh, Pajarita, so very sorry. Sometimes it's just the last brave thing we have to do for them. Hang in there. Maybe re-read the Rainbow Bridge and have a good cry. Maybe some chocolate. Hugzszszzszszsz!

[galeriagila]

Here are two FAILS of me trying to video the Rickeybird devouring a chile which is stuck into the cage door. Usually it's quite a show. But not when I have a cam. FAILS!

[Pajarita]

-Thank you, my dear. I have put so many animals down that one would think that I am more used to it... This little pomchi never even bonded with us because when we adopted her a little over a year ago, she was already completely blind and had advanced cognitive dysfunction (doggie Alzheimer) so she never did learn to recognize us, the poor thing! Her owner no longer wanted her when she became so difficult to care for - I swear, I don't understand people! How can you have a dog for 14 -15 years and then give her away because her care became difficult?!

But enough sadness, life goes on. So, here comes more info for you, this is about their breeding behaviors.

They are monogamous and mate for life. They reach sexual maturity at two years of age but usually do not breed until they are three. The courtship takes place in the air and before the breeding season even starts (July and August) with the unattached female taking flight and 1, 2 or 3 males following her (they call these 'nuptial flights'). Several colonies gather so individuals can find mates from other flocks (in 2001, there were 22 'loreras' -nesting sites- identified) If there is more than one 'beau', they 'fight' for her in the air by bumping into each other and even biting each other's wings and tails until there is only one left but, apparently, a larger and brighter red in the belly patch is preferred by the hens. Once the pair is made, they start making the nest and this can take up to three months even though both birds work on it. They use the same nest year after year and, every breeding season, they 'remodel' and 'upgrade' it but they also check on it almost every day outside of breeding season, preventing other pairs or animals from taking over it and maintaining the openings. This is because their nests not only take a long time to make but also because they are so particular about the cliff where the nest is located so making sure they will have for the next breeding season is essential to the survival of the species. In late September, they start having sex. In the wild, they only have one single clutch per year, consisting of two to five eggs. The eggs are white with an average length of about 1.5 inches and a width of a bit over 1 inch. Incubation takes 24 days on average with the female staying in the nest and the male feeding her in her beak first and later the babies. Although the greatest majority of babies are born in November, the flocks have what it's called 'asynchronic eclosion' which means that not all babies are born at the same time with some starting as early as late September and as late as February. Once the babies are born, the parents clean the nest, pushing and throwing away all the eggshell pieces. The size of the clutches and the success of the breeding season depends entirely on weather conditions with years when they get El Nino having more babies than any other and, on dry years, parents actually throwing out the nest fertile eggs.

Both parents care for the babies and feed them exclusively inside the nest for 60 days but continue doing it for 4 months when the babies start weaning. By the 6th week, the babies are completely fledged looking almost identical to the adults (their plumage is actually duller and their beaks are bone colored instead of black) and that's when they start flying, strengthening their muscles until about 2.5 months later, they start foraging with their parents. This is needed because these birds fly long distances (an average of 25 miles each way) to find food and water.

Tomorrow social structure.

[galeriagila]

That is all so cooool!
Well, I can tell you that the Rbird's behavior changed dramatically at about 3 years of age. No more sweet, cuddly, never-a-nip, always on his back looking for belly rubs! Instead, sweet/cuddly when he pleased. Nipping when frustrated. DEMANDING belly rubs ("GAIL! OH, GAIL!"). Over the years we've worked out truces over this or that. Mostly, he yells my name and I do what he wants. The FAIL # 2 video is a very good example!
He is usually done with his BIG moult (flights/tail/etc.) by August. He starts feeling sexy during the moult beginning in June, and feels romantic well into October, more or less. He has a flapping/dancing/clicking ritual that he seems to consider foreplay (oh, I wish I could video it, but the cam seems to spoil his mood!). After he has shown off, he wants to do his THING! We're all adults here, right??? He likes to climb up under my hair, at the nape of my neck and copulate... rub his lower belly on my hairline... you can imagine it, I bet! Okay, enough x-rated stuff. Hey... I love my bird and it's important to him! Oh, and I'll add this... he likes to regurgitate food to me now and then... I decline politely... this goes on after his big moult for a few months.
Yeah, when I got him at 3 months of age, he looked essentially like an adult, but his tail wasn't grown to full length, as I recall. His beak was mostly ivory-colored (turned gray/black gradually over the first year). His eyes were a muddy brownish (lightening to kind of a pale khaki color over time).
I'm gonna go find some old pictures! So you can see what we looked like when we were young!

Can't WAIT to hear about social stuff. Wondering how much wild stuff I will see in him!

Funnnnnnnnn!

[Pajarita]

OK, here we go - but I doubt you will see a lot of similarities because their social structure and behaviors are all relative to the flock as a group and pet parrots have no flock.

Sentinels - the Patagonian, due to its large size, bright coloration, loud vocalization and the almost desolate natural habitat they inhabit is easy prey so the flocks are usually quite large and very structured in order to minimize depredation losses. Their natural predators are domestic cats and dogs as well as Variable Hawks (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_hawk), American kestrels (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_kestrel), turkey vultures (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey_vulture), Patagonian foxes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_American_gray_fox, and colocolos (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colocolo).

One of their survival strategies is that of using sentinels. These are adult individuals that perch high up in trees or rocks and watch for predators or danger while the others feed or drink. It used to be believed that these were 'dominant' individuals in the flock but it was later observed that, although these individuals are usually strong and large, many different ones take turns doing this so it's actually a flock strategy and not individual dominance that determines it -but they haven't been able to figure out how the different sentinels and shifts are chosen. When a sentinel sees a predator, it calls out a particular vocalization in a very loud voice which immediately triggers what it's called 'massive flight' in which ALL the individuals of the flock SIMULTANEOUSLY take flight (the biologists that wrote the book say that this is a completely awesome experience). They still haven't been able to actually correctly identify this call, which of the sentinels does it or how the birds actually hear it and recognize it over all the loud vocalizations of the entire flock but they have seen it happen even when there are no predators in sight... They even couldn't tell, at times, what was it that the birds had seen or heard that made one or more of the sentinels give the alarm but they later realized that, at exactly the same time they saw the massive flight take place, there had been explosions in a mine several kms away which were too far for the humans to hear but, apparently, not for the birds which leads them to believe that they either have an extraordinary sharp hearing or that they actually felt the vibrations in the earth. As my own note, I think it might be the noise because I read once that, during the war in Europe, they used to keep macaws in church bell towers as alarms for air raids because the birds could hear the planes coming way before the people could hear or see them.

Their daily movement patterns include their going to the 'loreras' (nests) every day. With the exception of breeding season when they are incubating, they never sleep in them, they just check on them -usually after foraging in the morning and/or before foraging for dinner- finding the largest number of individuals at noon. They also have seasonal movement patterns. It used to be believed that they migrated but it has later been found that it's only that they forage in different areas during breeding and resting season with areas of a radius of 18.5 miles. They usually fly in groups of 2 to 100 individuals, low to the ground, keeping inside and following the canyons (this helps them avoid the strong winds and allows them to achieve cruising speeds between 25 and 37 miles per hour. The basic unit of Patagonians is a male/female pair (they describe it as: "permanent, monogamous and indivisible") but there are also 'family groups' (consisting of parents, juveniles and still unattached offspring) which forage together. These family groups fly with other families for foraging but they split up to eat together once they reach food.

Tomorrow, the dangers and degradation of their natural environment -if you are interested because it doesn't really bring anything important to what we need to know about them as pets.

[galeriagila]

So much fun to read all of that. Even if everything doesn't directly impact pet care, I just love knowing all I can about them.

One thing really caught my attention. Wherever we live, I always make sure the Rickeybird has great windows with interesting views. The last two houses we've had... he has had a wonderful second-floor view of our front lawn, driveway, and a busy street with lots of foot traffic. So he has plenty to watch. And speaking of SENTINELS, he *IS ONE*! When he sees somebody pull into the driveway or walk up our sidewalk, he screams "AWWWWW AWWWWW AWWWWWW" which we (and our dog) recognize. And you can hear that anywhere in the house, AND in the backyard!!! The dog goes to investigate, and we get ready for a visitor. There are no false alarms, and rarely does he fail to announce anybody! It makes me happy to think he's able to act on that instinct.

As for their hearing, it is amazing. Here's how I know. He imitates the noise a zipper makes when it opens/closes. If he hears a zipper, he makes the sound. When he's up in his room, and I'm downstairs getting dressed, even behind closed doors, he hears me zip my jeans and... yes, makes the noise!!! Just about any zipper will do. I've amazed friends and family with this little trick.

Pajarita, anything you feel like telling me, I'd love to hear.

One other funny thing about my little sentinel. When he's looking out his window, he announces (with a loud, indignant-sounding trill) when certain kinds of vehicles are nearby. He doesn't mind cars, trucks, motorcycles or bicycles, but if a golf-cart, or a fire-truck, or worst of all, a recumbent bicycle goes by, he seems to lose his mind. When my husband and I are watching television downstairs, and we hear the TRILLLLLLLL, we look at each other and say "inappropriate vehicle" and laugh.

!!!!!!!

[Pajarita]

Then I'll tell you about it tomorrow - I have to make it short today because it's a gorgeous day after days of rain and I need to plant some stuff I bought. One thing I keep on forgetting to tell you that I think is quaint: back home, when somebody wants to say a woman is ugly, they say 'es un loro barranquero!' (she is a Patagonian parrot). We also call badly tangled hair 'nido de cotorra' (as in 'her hair was a quakers nest!) and, when we want to say something is super dry, we say it's 'seco como lengua de loro' (dry as a parrot's tongue).